The Pain Game
by BethyBoo97
Summary: When Max comes in looking rough, like he's been out on the pull, Zoe assumes he's playing games with her and she's jealous. What will happen when it turns out that something is wrong with Max and she doubted him?
1. Chapter 1

The Pain Game

She'd played along that day, acted just like she normally did with him. She didn't feel normal though, fair enough the ED being in chaos may have had something to do with it, most of it stemmed from how rough Max looked.

Zoe and Max were, well whatever they were, she thought she well and truly had him under he spell though and she liked that. Or more rather, she liked him, a lot. Max had come into work that day because she was understaffed, it was meant to be his day off, and he looked like he did before Zoe. When he'd spent the night in a club on the pull and ended up back home with whatever tart had fallen into his arms this time. The feeling gripping at her stomach was jealousy, a feeling generally unbeknown to Dr Zoe Hanna.

Max carried on like normal that day, he continued to flirt with Zoe, was lovely to patients and just generally the same as ever, as the day went on he began to look more and more rough. At the end of his shift he spoke to Zoe and then left, she seemed stressed, which was understandable given the 'Connie situation' so he wasn't willing to make her load heavier. In all honesty he was feeling like death warmed up. He shouldn't really have gone to work, but he hadn't wanted to let Zoe down.

The reason for the way he was feeling wasn't as simple as Zoe had thought. He hadn't been out and about the previous eye, not now that his roving eye was fixed firmly on her, he'd stayed in and even had an early night to try and fight the headache that he had. Once he'd gotten back home, he grabbed a glass of water and sat on the sofa, having now not even got enough energy to climb the stairs and make his way to bed.

The first thing he noticed when he went to take a drink, was how shaky his hands were. By this point he didn't even have enough every to bend down to lay his glass on the floor. He lay back to try and stop his head from swimming, however now his eyes were beginning to close. He tried to fight it but it wasn't long before he was out cold.

**A/N This fic is based on last weeks ep 'The Dying Game' the title of this fic is like the ep title but I named it this because Zoe thinks that Max is playing games with her, however he isn't. I hope this is okay.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Max?" Robyn called as she closed the front door to their house. "I come baring take away." She told him as she threw her keys down on the table and then noticed Max on the sofa. Thinking he was just sleeping she continued through to the kitchen to put the food she was carrying down.

Robyn walked back to the living room to wake Max, it was only then she noticed the carpet was wet from the glass of water that Max had spilled. She was getting more and more worried with every passing second, especially when she couldn't wake him. She tried to put her nurse hat on to try and think what to do, but her worried sister hat was more prominent and was taking over.  
"Lofty? I can't wake Max and I'm worried." Robyn frantically rang her housemate.  
"I wouldn't worry, you know how deep a sleeper he is."  
"But there's water spilt everywhere, even Max isn't that careless."  
"Check his pulse Robyn." Lofty was trying to keep calm as he knew well that Robyn was not.  
"His pulse is really fast."  
"Ring an ambulance, I'll let them know that he's coming in over here." Lofty told her as he was still on shift in the ED.

An ambulance arrived not long later.  
"What's happened princess?" Jeff asked as Robyn let him and Tamzin in.  
"I don't know, I found him like this when I got in. I thought he was sleeping but his heart is racing and he's not responding." Robyn sobbed. Jeff bent down to check Max over while Tamzin tried to calm Robyn, who was seeming closer to hyperventilating with every passing second.  
"Robyn, I know you're worried about your brother but I need you to take some deep breaths for me. We're going to look after Max for you." Tamzin told the younger nurse.  
"Tams, we need to get him in and soon." Jeff whispered to Tamzin, in an attempt not to worry Robyn any further. Tamzin briefly left the house and got a gurney to put Max on to.  
"Okay Robyn, we're ready to take your brother in now." Tamzin told Robyn as Max was not wrapped in blankets and strapped to the gurney ready to go.  
"Can I come in the ambulance with him?" Robyn asked through her tears.  
"Course princess."

* * *

"This is Max Walker, age 29, GCS 11 throughout, blood pressure at 160/100, pulse was at 140bpm and he hasn't responded to any stimuli." Jeff told Connie, Ethan and Rita as Max was wheeled into the ED.

"Okay, straight through to resus please Jeff." Connie told them. Max was wheeled into resus immediately. "All ready to move him on three?" Connie asked as everyone nodded. "One, two, three." Max was now onto the bed in resus. "Okay, Ethan can you do primary survey please and Rita can you get 3 units of blood cross matched just in case."

"Airway's clear." Ethan reported back to Connie.

"Good. Can we check his temperature and get an ECG sorted please?" Connie asked as she noticed Robyn crying out of the corner of her eye. She walked away from Max, confident that the others would do what she'd asked and that Max would be okay for a moment. "Robyn, go and get a coffee or something. There's nothing you can do in here right now, I promise you that I'll look after him for you."

"I don't want to leave him." Robyn whispered, as that was all she could manage as her throat had gone dry.

"I know you don't but what use to him will you be when he comes round, if you're like this?" Connie pointed out. "If anything happens, you'll be the first to know." She seemed to have gotten through to Robyn as she took one more look at Max before leaving resus.

* * *

"Robyn, what's wrong? Why are you here, your shift finished an hour ago?" Zoe asked as she bumped into a crying Robyn.

"It...it's..." Robyn tried to speak but fresh tears poured down her face.

"Here, I'll get you a cuppa." Zoe replied as she ushered Robyn through to the staffroom and closed the door. Robyn sat on the sofa, with a tissue that Zoe had passed her, while Zoe made a cup of coffee for each of them. "Here you go." Zoe said kindly as she passed one of the mugs to the young nurse.

"It's Max...he's in...resus. I thought...I thought that he was sleeping." Robyn cried, she was staring into her mug, which was probably just as well as had she not been then she'd have noticed Zoe's face drop and pale.

"What?! He can't be, he was here a few hours ago and he was fine." Zoe mumbled in shock, but then thought of how ill he looked. All she wanted was to burst into resus and see just what had happened, the anger that she had felt at Max hours earlier had all melted away now and worry had taken it's place, she couldn't leave Robyn though.


	3. Chapter 3

"Why don't I go and check how Max is doing?" Zoe asked Robyn, she was determined to go and see how Max was doing, not for Robyn's benefit but to calm the worry that she was feeling.

"Connie said she'd find me the second anything changed." Robyn told Zoe, Robyn was no longer crying anymore but was still clearly in a state. Zoe was trying so hard to hold it together, she couldn't let herself appear anymore worried than casual concern for someone who worked for her. In reality she just wanted to run into resus and make Max better all by herself and then kiss him and never let him go again. She couldn't though.

It was at this moment that Connie appeared at the door.

"What's happened?" Robyn asked in a panic.

"Nothing, I just need to know if Max is on anything? Prescribed or otherwise." Connie asked.

"No, not that I'm aware of." Robyn thought quickly and then answered. "Why?"

"It's standard practice to ask Robyn, you know that." Connie smiled briefly at the young nurse, before turning to leave again. Zoe stood up and caught Connie just outside the door.

"What are you thinking?" Zoe asked, trying to sound her normal self.

"Well he has a high temperature but he's cold to the touch, his blood pressure is high, as is his pulse but an echo test showed no damage to the heart itself. He's not responding at all either, normally I'd be thinking drug overdose but if he's not taking anything and he was on shift less than an hour ago then I don't know."

"Have you taken bloods?" Zoe asked, not quite believing what she was hearing.

"Yeah, the results aren't back yet though. There's nothing we can do until they're back though."

"Okay, I'll go and speak to Robyn and find out if there's anyway that he could have taken anything at all."

"Okay, I'll let you know as soon as the bloods are back." Connie said as she walked off in the direction of cubicles and Zoe headed back into the staff room.

"Robyn, when was the last time Max was out?" Zoe asked gently.

"He was out during the day yesterday before his shift last night, I don't think he went out out though. I get the impression that he's seeing someone and was there." Zoe thought back and

remembered that Max was at hers the previous afternoon, he'd seemed fine and then they went to work together.

"And today?" Zoe asked.

"He got home this morning about 8, he went to bed and surfaced again around 1. He went to the shop and then you called him in. Why?"

"We can't be sure right now but his symptoms fit a possible overdose." Zoe almost whispered.

"No. No! Max would never do drugs. I know you don't know him that well but surely you know that he wouldn't." Robyn had no idea just how well Zoe did know Max, but she was right that he wouldn't do drugs.

"I know that, that's why I'm wondering if someone could have spiked a drink or anything."

No words were shared as the two women sat and sipped at their drinks. Robyn was crying again and Zoe wasn't far from tears either, although so far she'd been successful at keeping them back.

"Zoe, can I have a word?" Connie asked as she appeared at the staff room door.

"Is Max okay?" Robyn asked as she jumped back into reality the moment she heard Connie's voice.

"No change, I just need Zoe's advice on another patients results." Connie lied, although there had been no change in Max's condition, the results that Connie needed Zoe to look over where in fact Max's.

Zoe followed Connie to their shared office and sat at her desk.

"What is it then?" Zoe asked, only to have a sheet of paper thrust her way. Zoe carefully studied the test results in front of her and that's when her heart dropped. "It was definitely a drug overdose then." Zoe sighed.

"Yeah, however I rang the lab and they said that the substance they found was dissolved in water. They also said that it had entered his blood stream a few hours ago."

"So what are you thinking?" Zoe asked wanting to know that they were both on the same page.

"I think that his water was spiked. We both know that he carried a water bottle around with him, he leaves it behind reception a lot when he's with patients. Anyone could have spiked it." Connie sighed.

"Okay, well you ring the police and I'm going to go and start Max's treatment."

This was the moment that Rita came running in to the office.

"It's Max, his hearts stopped." Rita panted as she told them the news and then ran back to resus.

"I'll go." Zoe insisted as she ran after Rita. Once in resus she saw Tess doing chest compressions on the man that she was dating. "I'll take over." Zoe said as Tess climbed down from the stool and Zoe stepped up on to it. "Come on Max, don't you dare die on me." Zoe pleaded quietly as she began chest compressions. "Come on, please."


	4. Chapter 4

"We've got a pulse." Tess called to Zoe who immediately stopped CPR.

"Okay, Rita can you get an active charcoal injection ready please? I hope it's not too late and the damage isn't already done." Zoe said as she quickly kissed his forehead while no one was watching and then left to see Connie.

"The police are on their way in, they're going to want to speak to us, so we'll give them use of our office. They're also taking our CCTV tapes from today and then they want to speak to Robyn and see if she'll let them into the house to see if they can find the water bottle. I take it you managed to stablise him?"

"Yeah I did, I've asked Rita to give him a charcoal shot to see if it'll bind with the drugs. He's stable just now but still out, we'll give that an hour or so to work and then I want scans to check damage to any major organs."

"Are we expecting him to come round anytime soon?" Connie asked, knowing that she should tell Robyn all of this news soon.

"I really don't know, I'm hoping he'll come round as the charcoal works." Zoe told her. "I'm just going to check the shot was done and then I'll be in our office until the police arrive." Zoe continued, she didn't really want to check that everything had been done, she just wanted to see Max again while she still had a chance because the moment that the police arrived, would be the moment that things got crazy.

"Okay, I'm going to speak to Robyn and have a coffee while I'm there."

Zoe walked the few steps into resus and found it empty, bar Max. She walked over the his side and took his hand, which was still feeling cold. "Max, I'm not really sure if you can hear me. People always say that people who are unconcious can hear and just not respond, I don't know how much truth there is in that but I'll continue anyway." Zoe began as her eyes began to fill just watching his chest slowly rise and fall again. "You can't leave me, I need you in my life to make it better and probably worse all at the same time. Now if you can hear me, don't go all serious on me Max, and don't expect anymore praise or grand declarations from me. We're fine as we are, I'll let you call me your girlfriend though. God, that makes me sound like a teenager again, and I'm far from that. The point that I'm trying to make is that I need you to get better and wake up." Zoe told him as she squeezed his hand and still saw no response. "Right, I'm going to go and help catch whoever it is that did this to you. After all, no one hurts my boyfriend, unless it's me." Zoe joked and found herself laughing softly.

Zoe was sat with her head in her hands at her desk when there was a knock on the door.

"Zoe, the police want to see you." Louise said as she opened the door.

"Okay." Zoe replied as she looked up and two men in police uniforms came in. "Have a seat."

"So you're Dr Hanna, clinical lead here?" The older looking one out of the pair, asked.

"Yeah." Zoe replied.

"And Mr Walker is...?" The other man asked.

"Max is a porter." Zoe told them.

"Do you know him well?"

"Relatively, look you can't let anyone else know this but we're in a relationship. Before you ask, I don't know of any enemies that he has." Zoe sighed before replying.

"Okay Dr Hanna, can you tell me what happened today?"

"We were really busy so I called him in this afternoon to help cover a shift. There was a fire in a local care home and St James was closed and diverting here so I needed all the staff I could get."

"And how did he appear?"

"Tired, but he'd been on a night shift last night so I didn't expect anything less. As the shift went on he looked worse and worse, we went out for a smoke and then he left and I went back inside. Next thing I knew his sister, Robyn, was wondering through the ED sobbing. I can give you CCTV tapes if you need them, his sister and one of my other lead consultants, Mrs Beauchamp, are in the staffroom if you want to see them, then I'll show you through."


	5. Chapter 5

"Where's Robyn?" Zoe asked, trying not to appear too worried about Max.

"Max has gone up to ward so they can monitor the internal damage, Robyn went with him." Connie replied as she sat at her desk and turned her computer screen on. "Why don't you go home Zoe? Your shift finished a while ago and you look exhausted." Connie added as she looked up at Zoe while she waited for her computer to log on.

"I'm busy." Zoe responded bluntly, usually she had a high tolerance threshold but with everything going on with Max it had dipped.

"There's nothing you can be doing that can't wait or that we can't do." Connie told her just as curtly.

"Fine." Came Zoe's reply moments later, as she knew she was fighting a losing battle. Zoe may have been stubborn but she had met her match when it came to Connie Beauchamp. "I'm going to nip up to see Max before I go." Connie looked at Zoe with a look of confusion as she wasn't sure why Zoe was so concerned about Max. "I need to check he's okay, I can't have someone going after my staff." Zoe justified as she noticed Connie's glare.

"Bye Dr Hanna."

* * *

"How is he doing Maggie?" Zoe asked the plump nurse that was checking Max's obs, Zoe had come up to the ward only 10 minutes before where Robyn had asked Zoe to stay with him while she went to ring his dad.

"He'll be okay, he's showing signs of coming back round however we won't know the extent of internal damage, if there is any, for a couple of days when we check his organ functions. He is breathing on his own and his heartbeat isn't in an irregular rhythm although he is tachycardic, which is encouraging."

"Thanks." Zoe replied as she took Max's hand and began speaking again. "Come on Max, wake up and give me the usual Walker charm that comes out of your mouth. I need you, I don't know how we got to the point of me falling for a porter but here we are. I'm going to find whoever did this to you and make sure that after that no one can hurt you again."

"Isn't that supposed to be my job in the relationship?" Max croaked in reply.

"Max? Max! Are you okay?" Zoe asked worried as she saw his heart speed up a little more.

"I feel like hell but otherwise I'm okay. I'm dying for a fag though." Max replied, this was the Max that Zoe knew, and loved.

"I'm not surprised and you can't have one Max."

"What happened?" Max asked, having now figured that he was in hospital but not having ascertained why.

"About that, can you remember anyone acting suspiciously today?" Zoe asked, causing Max to worry a little.

"There was a weird man hanging around in reception this morning, he just sat there and then I came back through reception to pick up my water bottle and he got up and left. Why? What's happened?"

"Someone spiked your water bottle, you experienced an overdose. You suffered a cardiac arrest down in the ED, I was terrified that I'd lost you." Zoe spoke but began to get a little emotional.

"You don't get rid of me that easily." Max replied to ease the tension in the room a little and succeeded as Zoe giggled slightly.

"Max! You're awake!" Robyn screamed as she entered the ward again and saw Max with his eyes open and speaking to Zoe.

"I'll leave you to it, I'll be back to see how you're doing tomorrow. If you feel up to it tonight then the police will want to speak to you, on behalf of the department, get better soon. Robyn, have tomorrow off." Zoe smiled as she picked her bag up and placed it on her shoulder before leaving, winking slightly at Max as she left while Robyn wasn't looking.

**A/N I'm sorry for abandoning this story, I didn't mean to. I've just started sixth form so I'm really busy but I thought I'd sit and bash out a chapter while I have a free, so here we are. Please review if you're reading so I know if people want me to carry on with this.**

**Beth x**


	6. Chapter 6

Zoe sat at home stewing, she was worrying about Max and who could possibly have wanted to harm him to the extent where he could have died. It wasn't as if it could even have been a woman's husband or boyfriend because for the past few months she was fairly sure that he'd only been with her. It was nearing midnight by this point and Zoe began a shift at 7 the following morning, but she just couldn't sleep with all the thoughts swimming through her head. Her phone buzzed into life from beside her, making her jump away from her thoughts for a moment. The number that appeared on her mobile was one that she didn't recognise, she kind of hoped that it would be Max but deep inside she knew that it wouldn't be.

"Hello?" Zoe asked warily.

"Is this Dr Hanna?" The man on the other end of the phone asked.

"Yes, who's this?"

"I'm Detective Superintendent Hartley, I'm heading up the investigation into the attempted murder of your employee Max Walker." The man told her.

"Okay." Zoe spoke, feeling suddenly a lot more alert.

"We've identified a suspect, only we can't find him just now. We think he's against the NHS, as we can't find him we'd like to make you aware and make sure all your staff are aware and on alert to any suspicious activity."

"Okay, is Mr Walker is any more danger?" Zoe asked, trying to mask her worry.

"As far as we can tell, no."

"Okay thank you."

"I want to assure you that we are doing our best to track this man down Dr Hanna."

"Okay."

* * *

"Zoe what are you doing here?" Ash asked as he was covering the night shift.

"I need to talk to all the staff, can you gather them up please?" Zoe asked Ash, before she walked through to her office and picked up her spare outfit and got changed and ready to face the long day that was in front of her. She walked out of the office after touching up her make up and found all of her staff waiting for her, well all the ones that were on the night shift.

"I thought you weren't on until the morning." Charlie spoke out first.

"I'm not but I've had word back from the police officer working Max's case, he thinks it's someone out against the ED department, DS Hartley thinks we all need to be on the look out for any suspicious people until the suspect is caught." Zoe told them, and saw a look of fear and worry cross most of her employees faces. "There's no need to panic too much, just be wary." Zoe finished and then walked back to her office.

"You could have rang into to tell us that, you need sleep Zoe, you have a shift in like 6 hours." Ash said as he followed Zoe.

"I've survived on less sleep before."

"You have no reason to be here though." Ash pointed out.

"I needed to sort all of this out, I'm not going to lay in bed all safe while my colleagues are in danger. I'm going up to tell Max what's going on, be careful down here." Zoe warned.

* * *

"Couldn't keep away, eh?" Max laughed as Zoe walked into his side-room in the ward that he was on.  
"You should be asleep Max, you need to rest." Zoe told him, unimpressed that he was still awake.

"Well I couldn't, I'm bored. It feels weird going to sleep without you in my arms. Come here." Max beckoned her over from the door.  
"I can't Max, that bed is tiny plus I don't want to knock those tubes." Zoe told him, not wanting to admit that she struggled to sleep now without him there too.

"Well you see a doctor told me I needed rest but I can't do that without you, would you really want to hinder me getting better?" Max replied cheekily, making Zoe laugh slightly.

"Well when you put it like that, how can I refuse? Only until you fall asleep though because someone might see otherwise." Zoe told him clearly as she lay down on the bed next to him and snuggled into him, Max immediately moving to wrap his arms around her.

* * *

Unfortunately for Zoe, with the warmth and comfort that Max provided for her, she fell asleep almost instantly, as did Max. That's why at nearly 9 in the morning, Zoe was late for her shift leaving Connie on the warpath, and Robyn was now stood at the door looking over at the bed in which her brother was laying sleeping with her boss in his arms.


	7. Chapter 7

"Has anyone seen Dr Hanna?" Connie asked angrily as she walked into resus.

"She came in last night at just before 1 to warn us about the man who tried to kill Max and said she was going up to visit him, I assume she went home after that." Ash told her.

"If you were on the night shift then why are you still her Dr Ashford?" Connie asked in her usual 'above everyone else' tone.

"I'm just finishing off handing these patients over to Ethan."

* * *

"Dr Arnell, it's Mrs Beauchamp from the ED, I was just wondering if you'd seen Dr Hanna up on your ward."

"Yes, she's in with one of my patients."

"Can you send her down to the ED please?"

"Sorry, she's sleeping Mrs Beauchamp as is my patient and I don't wish to disturb my patient yet." Dr Arnell replied.

"I see, well when she finally wakes up, remind her she has a department to run." Connie spoke bluntly before she put the phone down on her colleague.

"Have you found Zoe?" Ash asked as he popped his head around the two women's office door.

"Yes, she's fast asleep up on Keller." Connie told him, the anger extremely evident in her voice and plastered across her face.

"Oh, well I'm off now. Ella's got a meeting at a sixth form this morning about starting again."

"Ahh, good luck." Connie calmed a little, offering her colleague a smile as he left.

* * *

"What's going on?" Robyn asked, she was more than slightly annoyed but more at the fact that she was out of the loop than anything else, after all she was a sucker for a romance, as the sleeping couple in front of her began to come back into the real world.

Max spoke first as he was the first to become fully conscious. "Shh, you'll wake Zoe." He told her as Zoe stirred slightly before laying her head on Max's chest and falling back into a deep sleep.

"What's going on?" Robyn whispered this time, as she sat on the chair beside Max's bed and looked at him expectantly. "Is it Zoe that you've been with all this time?" She asked, the realisation and all the previous puzzle pieces now all fitting together to make the full picture that she kicked herself for not having seen months before.

"Yeah. Don't freak out on me please, I know there's an age difference and I know she's my boss but I love her Ro, I really do." Max whispered, mindful of not waking Zoe, especially as he knew how she was in the morning without a strong coffee to set her up for the day.

"I...I don't know what to say Max."

"Nothing would be good, but I doubt you could manage that so how about being happy for us?"

"I am happy for you, I really am Max. Are you sure she thinks this is as serious as you do though?"

"I think she is, she said last night that she wasn't going to let me go. She was really worried yesterday."

"It all makes sense now." Robyn spoke, more to herself than to Max.

"What does?"

"Her worry yesterday, I knew she was more worried than any old boss would be."

"Why, what did she do?"

"There were tears in her eyes as she spoke to me and when she was telling me that you'd be okay it seemed like she was trying to reassure herself more than me." Robyn told him and then smiled as she watched her brother smile and kiss the woman in his arms forehead. "You really are happy." Robyn stated.

"I told you I was, didn't I? I'd be even happier if I could stop feeling like hell though." Max laughed.

"I imagine you would." Robyn giggled, and watched as slowly Zoe came to.

"Max...I'm so tired baby." Zoe moaned sleepily, having not opened her eyes to see Robyn yet.

"Go back to sleep then." Max whispered in her ear.

"I love you." Zoe told him as she slowly opened her eyes and waited until they adjusted to the light. "Robyn?" Zoe asked as she began to panic.

"It's alright Zoe..." Max started.

"If you're both happy then I'm happy for you." Robyn finished as she watched Zoe bury her head back into Max's chest and sigh deeply.

"You can't tell anyone." Zoe finally spoke again, now that she was fully awake.


End file.
